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Lawmakers advance bill for disaster recovery aid, but not for Dorian

Less than a week after Hurricane Dorian raked the North Carolina coast, lawmakers on Tuesday rolled out a bill for $113 million in disaster relief for other hurricanes that have hit the state in recent years.

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By
Laura Leslie
, WRAL Capitol Bureau chief
RALEIGH, N.C. — Less than a week after Hurricane Dorian raked the North Carolina coast, lawmakers on Tuesday rolled out a bill for $113 million in disaster relief for other hurricanes that have hit the state in recent years.

Lawmakers are still trying to catch up with recovery from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence and Tropical Storm Michael last year.

The $113 million comes from a reserve fund lawmakers set up last year in the wake of Florence.
The bill does include $5 million in cash for state Division of Emergency Management's current operations, including relief efforts on Ocracoke Island, which was swamped by Dorian.
State Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry said it’s too early to estimate what recovery from Dorian will cost, and lawmakers said they would pass another relief package for Dorian later this year, when damage estimates are completed.

Sprayberry noted that this year's hurricane season isn’t over yet, and more storms are brewing in the Atlantic Ocean.

"My guess is we’ll probably be coming back to the General Assembly to ask for more funding in the future, but $5 million will give us an estimated amount so that we can take care of things right now," he said.

Lawmakers also rolled out spending bills for prison safety, school safety and rape kit testing on Tuesday. All four of the proposals were part of the $24 billion state budget that remains stalled amid a standoff between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican legislative leaders over Medicaid expansion.
Lawmakers said the money involved in the four "mini-budgets" is too time-sensitive to wait for the end of the standoff. Cooper recently signed proposals that included pay raises for teachers and state employees while vetoing one to pay for shifting Medicaid to a managed care system.
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